No way but to become Original Design Manufacturer: BGMEA

Staff Reporter :
The entrepreneurs of readymade garment sector think that they must be graduated to Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) from the existing original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to adopt with the changing situation.
“We have to continue the momentum as we have achieved in sustainability. But first and foremost, we need to upgrade our business model,” said Farque Hassan, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Dhaka Apparel Summit at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the capital.
The BGMEA chief said they have huge potential ahead of them as they have captured only 8 per cent global apparel market share. “So the next story of transformation should be around how we can go for innovation, up-gradation, value addition, diversification and the 4th Industrial revolution,” he said.
“We envision the sector to be more diversified in terms of products, fibers and markets. Foreign investments would be a great way to address all these priority issues,” he added.
Faruque further said, “The global textile and clothing consumption is 75 per cent of non-cotton, but Bangladesh export only 25 per cent of it. This means that we are not taking advantage of such a huge opportunity.”
“We have capacity constraint in high end garment like sportswear, lingerie, outerwear, jackets, workwear and most importantly circular fashion items. But we have insignificant presence,” he said.
“For us, the path is to graduate from OEM to ODM as we focus more on design development, innovation and end-to-end digital solution. So any collaboration that will help upscale our capability in innovation and adaptation with fourth industrial revolutions would add tremendous value to our industry,” he added.
He also said Bangladesh is one of the safest and cleanest apparel manufacturing countries in the world, which offers the best sustainable solution to our valued clients.
Bangladesh has by far the highest number of green garment factories in the world.
US Green Building Council (USGBC) certified a total of 177 green factories of which 58 are platinum rated and 41 out of the world’s top 100 garment factories are in Bangladesh.
8 out top global 10 LEED certified factories are located in Bangladesh and the country is the home to 48 out of top 100 LEED certified factories in the world.
Moreover, 550 more factories are in the pipeline for certification.